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> Home Blog To pay or not to pay? That is the question.(B1-B2)

To pay or not to pay? That is the question.(B1-B2)

1058 Views 0 Liked Posted on: September 12th 2023

To pay or not to pay? That is the question.

Niveau B1-B2 (intermédiaire)

Photo de couverture : Ulez_protests_2©JessicaGirvan Shutterstock.com

ULEZ, is the acronym for London’s ultra-low emission zone. London mayor, Sadiq Kahn, introduced it in 2019 to tackle toxic air in the city. In October 2021, Kahn extended it to the north and south circular. And on August 29, he extended it again to cover the 32 London boroughs.

PHOTO 1 route.jpg

Freeway_London_©Travers Lewis Shutterstock.com

PHOTO 2 panneau.jpg
PHOTO 3 manif.jpg

Ulez_protests_©Koca Vehbi   Shutterstock.com

Londoners with older vehicles who don’t meet the ULEZ standards, or vehicle owners who enter for work or pleasure, must pay a daily charge of £12.50 (14.5€). The new zone also includes Heathrow Airport, so if you don’t live in London but want to take the plane, you must pay to drive there. Also, if you enter one of London’s 17 congestion areas, you’ll pay both the £15-a-day congestion charge and the ULEZ charge!

Khan says, “5 million more people will be able to breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives”, but Londoners aren’t happy. Around 44% don’t have vehicles that meet Ulez emissions standards, and due to the recession, many people can’t afford to change their vehicle. So, what choices do Londoners have?

  • The Scrappage Scheme: if you live in London, you can scrap your vehicle and get £2,000 for a new car, or £1,000 for a motorcycle. Your vehicle must have valid insurance, tax and be road-worthy. You can also get a part in cash, but the rest in public transport tickets. Unfortunately, if you don’t live in London, but drive into the city for work every day, you don’t qualify for this money.
  • Sell your vehicle: if your vehicle is worth more than £2,000, you can sell it to someone who lives outside London, and buy a new vehicle.
  • Pay the charge: lots of Londoners have kept their vehicle and pay the daily £12.50. If you drive in London twice a week, it’ll cost you £1,300 a year. This makes sense if a new car would cost you more than £14,000. The charges may be less than the depreciation of a new car. But if you use the car three days a week or more, it would be too expensive.
  • Use car clubs or carpool: Car clubs let you rent a car for £5-£6 an hour which is a good alternative if you don’t go to London often. Carpooling means you can divide the charge by the number of people in the car. If there are five people in your car, it would only cost each person £2.50 a day to travel in the capital.

to tackle: s’attaquer à

to extend: agrandir

circular: un périphérique

a borough: un quartier

to meet: (ici) être conforme à

a recession: une crise économique

to afford: avoir les moyens d’acheter

to scrap: mettre à la casse

to be road-worthy: être en état de rouler

to carpool: faire du covoiturage

Posted in: Travel, Culture, News, Testimonies

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